Conference Presentation, Panel
Leading Companies Through the New Digital Reality
- Technology adoption is shifting from productivity tools to operational necessities, forcing innovation and digital-first strategies to survive, with a move toward "bite-sized" implementation to solve immediate pain points rather than incremental improvements.
- The global talent pool is expected to simplify and expand by removing geographical constraints, allowing companies to recruit from wider areas and utilize remote onboarding to improve diversity, while businesses adopting hybrid strategies are predicted to win the "war on talent."
- The gaming industry, which generated $68 billion in 2019, is projected to reach over $150 billion by 2025 and is expected to surpass the television sector within the next five years, driven by mobile gaming and a permanent shift away from static entertainment.
- Rackspace Technology plans to launch new remote work and security solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, maintain safety measures including wellness days, and utilize virtual training methods that have already achieved higher engagement ratings than pre-pandemic levels.
- Intel is operating its sales and technology teams completely online and collaborating on 5G and Wi-Fi technologies to ensure more reliable networks and bandwidth, while the broader sector anticipates a distributed future of compute integrating AI, digital twins, and blockchain.
- Companies are accelerating secular trends toward distributed work and reduced reliance on central offices, with some committing to full virtual operations indefinitely while disaster recovery planning permanently includes remote management of the entire digital state and workforce.
- A "huge burst of entrepreneurship" is emerging from pandemic-related job losses, whereas retail, hospitality, and travel sectors face significant hardship due to opening restrictions, though digital pivots allow some businesses to thrive.
- Revenue growth is anticipated to consistently double or triple annually for companies utilizing agile processes, while Open Computing Platforms enable more customized solutions across industries like healthcare and manufacturing.
- Future outlooks suggest a reduction in the need for physical offices to better utilize energy and time, with customer expectations demanding instant access, gratification, and communication, while remote hiring is viewed as a "great equalizer" that democratizes access to opportunities from locations like HBCUs.